Review: Jewel of the Seas Western Mediterranean

[DaNana]

We arrived in Rome at 6 in the morning. Dropped our luggage at the hotel and off to the Vatican. We spent the day and arrived back at the hotel at 5:30. Went to take a 30 minute nap that lasted 4 hours! Went to eat dinner and then did the Coliseum the next day. We then spent another day at the end of our cruise going back to see The Basilica again. Was awesome. I wanted 2 more days! Loving your review!

 

 

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Edited August 31, 2018 by DaNana

[cruizeblues]

Thank you :) More time would have been great, 3.5 hours is definitely not enough time for the Vatican! We would have loved another day to go back and stroll through at a leisurely pace!

[DaNana]

Thank you :) More time would have been great, 3.5 hours is definitely not enough time for the Vatican! We would have loved another day to go back and stroll through at a leisurely pace!

 

 

 

Agree there is so much to see. We used Steve Rick’s app and bought our tickets ahead of time. We were able to get the shortcut by tagging on a group going out. We were tired and wish we had done this when we were not!

 

 

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[Bobal]

This sculpture stopped me in my tracks! Stood and stared at it for a good ten minutes and wished I could have stayed longer! Absolutely beautiful! Michelangelo's Pieta

 

 

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Thank you for posting that picture. I fully understand how you could have spent all that time. It's the only piece of art that has literally moved me to tears and every time we visit Rome I have to go and see it.

[Esilef]

Really enjoying your review. Thank you for posting.

 

 

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[cruizeblues]

 

DH tried really hard to capture the magnitude of St. Peter's Square, but by now it was noon, and about 95 degrees and I'm starting to get cranky from the heat and lack of caffeine and food. Time to head back to the hotel for a short rest and to change into shorts. We walked a bit and found a cab, the driver told us we could probably walk back faster, but he was happy to take us. I didn't care, I was happy just to be able to sit down in an air conditioned vehicle for 20 minutes! :) Thankfully the hotel was equipped with a coffee maker and I had some trail mix that I brought from home. We had to meet our tour guide near the Colosseum at 2:15, so we had about an hour to rest and recharge before heading out. Because it was so hot, we were short on time and still had a lot of walking ahead of us we took another cab. Cabs are fairly inexpensive, I think it was like 8 euro.

Great decision because we got there about 45 minutes early, enough time for lunch! Yay, real food! Found this tiny deli style cafe around the corner from the Colosseum, La Prezzemolina. It had a Trip Advisor sign and smelled great so we went in. We had a salad and slice of really excellent three cheese pizza! Sorry, I never think to take pictures of my food because I'm too busy digging in :) All of the food we had on this trip was really tasty and relatively inexpensive. I can't remember what lunch cost, less than 15 euro for both of us (ish) Good food and wine was relatively inexpensive, generally less than you would spend in tourist areas in the States. One of my goals on this trip was to eat as much authentic food as possible! I was amazed to see several McDonads in Rome, and even more amazed to see people actually in there eating!! OMG WHY?

[cruizeblues]

 

 

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[cruizeblues]

So with our bellies full and a bit of a rest, we were re-energized and ready to take on the Colosseum! The Vatican was my "must see" but DH was looking forward to this the most! Gladiator is his all time favorite movie. We booked the 3.5 hour Colosseum Dungeons and Roman Forum small group tour with Rome Private Guides, cost was 75 euro each. Our tour guide, Diego, was pretty awesome! He took our group of 10 through the Roman ruins first, explained what we were looking at and had a notebook with renderings of how it looked in it's glory days. He explained how everything was covered in beautiful marble, but after the fall of the Roman Empire, the marble and other materials were looted and used in other projects around Rome. I enjoyed my Ancient Rome class in college many moons ago, but he was really able to bring this place to life with his descriptions and he did it without boring us (even the teens in our group were engaged!) It was pretty awesome standing among buildings that have been around since the 1st Century BC! Definitely learned a lot that I didn't know. He pointed out the Senate, the spot where Julius Caesar was killed and cremated. We also walked up Palatine Hill to see the palace ruins and the private, smaller private arena used by the Emperors. There wasn't much shade along the way, I can imagine how much more awesome the tour would have been if it wasn't 95 degrees!

 

 

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[cruizeblues]

The Temple of Vesta

 

 

 

 

 

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[cruizeblues]

The Roman Senate Building, Curia Julia. 1st century BC - 3rd C AD

 

 

The Arch of Septimus Severus, 203 AD

 

 

Where the "Vestal Virgins" lived.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[cruizeblues]

Hope I'm not too boring with this history lesson, but I am a teacher, it's in my blood! [emoji846] And no, I didn't take notes but we were inspired to buy a book on Rome from the Colosseum gift shop so we could read up on the names & dates of everything we saw.

 

 

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[cruizeblues]

Palatine Hill, once a lavish palace for the Emperors and housing for ruling class

 

 

Private arena for the Caesar and other nobility

 

 

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[cruizeblues]

At this point the sky started to get dark, we could hear thunder in the distance. It started to sprinkle on our way to the Colosseum entrance, we were afraid we might not get inside because of the impending storm [emoji26] We passed The Arch of Constantine, the newest and best preserved of the three arches (2nd Century AD)

 

 

The rain actually felt great, cooled us off and was light enough not to be a washout. We were able to get in and went to the second floor observation area. Pretty cool, once again to be in the middle of history! Took a few pictures before the storm got worse, lightening and heavier rain forced us downstairs for our "dungeons " portion of the tour!

 

 

The holes are from where the looters pulled the marble off the building. The iron spikes holding the marble on was used for cannons & cannon balls.

 

 

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[cruizeblues]

 

 

This would have been underground when the Colosseum was in use, they kept the animals and prisoners down here in the darkness. They used an elevator to bring them up to the arena for the fights.

 

 

 

 

Animal cage or prison cell

 

 

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[cruizeblues]

Next we went up about three or four flights to another viewing area, it was the best place for photos. The rain had let up, so we were able to snap a few more. Our guide told us how the "games" were free for the citizens, as a means to keep them entertained. The lowest level was reserved for the wealthy and ruling class, mid-level was for businessmen and property owners and the top (separated by a wall) was for the plebes. Women were allowed only at the very top level.

 

Jim doing his best imitation of Joaquin Phoenix as Commodus in Gladiator [emoji3]

 

 

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[cruizeblues]

When the tour was over we wandered around a bit on our own to take some more photos. We found the gift shop and bought a book and a few prints. A few final thoughts about the Colosseum/Forum: you could easily visit both on your own, but having a guide to explain what you are seeing really brings everything to life! Also, many areas of the Colosseum are off limits unless you are with a guide. If you do it on your own, buy a ticket online ahead of time. They assign you a time slot to visit (as a means of crowd control) and only sell a certain amount of tickets per time slot. We talked to people that weren't able to get tickets at the time they walked up on their own. Once you are in, you can stay as long as you like. They don't allow big backpacks in, and you must go through a security check to get in. Without the guide telling you what you are seeing, I would say you will probably spend about an hour or less in each area (the Forum and the Colosseum)

 

 

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[cruizeblues]

We were pretty tired after our back-to-back tours and didn't feel like walking another step, so we found a cab and went back to the hotel to shower and get ready for dinner. Strangely enough, after a short rest we caught our second wind and decided to go out and explore the area closer to our hotel, the Piazza Navona. Amazed that we hadn't wandered through here yet, we walked around a bit and checked out the shops and restaurants. Most of the restaurants have their menu on display to read, most offer the basically the same menu at pretty much the same prices. All have outdoor seating with maybe a few tables inside. I read a few reviews that said to go a few blocks away from the landmarks for better food, so we did that. I wish I could tell you the name or location of the place that we ended up at, but sadly, I can't remember. After such a long day of walking all over Rome touring all I remember is there was food and wine and it was all really good! After dinner we made our way back to Piazza Navona, it was pretty lively for 10 pm. There were street performers; mimes, magicians and musicians and artists. I wanted to buy a painting from a street artist, but wasn't sure how to get it home so I resisted. We went into gelato shop/bakery and got a brownie with gelato on top for dessert and brought it out by the fountain to eat. We talked about what we still wanted to see tomorrow before our ride to the port and decided to get up early to maximize our last morning in Rome. We went back to the hotel to plan our morning and get packed.

 

 

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[cruizeblues]

Definitely not boring me! Lol I keep checking back to see if you’ve posted more. In fact I hadn’t planned for us to go to the Vatican, but now I’m trying to work it in

 

 

 

Thanks [emoji846] I really think that you won't regret time spent at the Vatican! There is so much art and beautiful architecture to take in, definitely worth the time.

 

 

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[cruizeblues]

Day 3: Trevi Fountain, part 2 and Victor Emmanuel Monument/Alter of the Fatherland

 

Somewhere in my trip planning (Rick Steves maybe) I read that the best way to see the popular attractions in Rome without a crowd is to get there early in the morning. So we decided that we wanted to see the Trevi Fountain again and also see the Victor Emmanuel Monument (also known as the Alter of the Fatherland). Our ride to the port was picking us up at noon, so we decided to get up early and leave our hotel by 7:30 to see what we could pack into the short time we had left. Our first stop along the was the Pantheon. Contrast these pictures with the ones we took on Friday afternoon!

 

 

This door is solid brass and enormous!

 

Maybe this is a better shot to show the scale

 

Interesting to discover that the Pantheon is still a functioning church. Apparently they don't do early mass in Rome as it is still locked. On to the Fountain!

 

It's easy to get lost trying to find things, all the side streets look pretty similar, then they open up into a Piazza of some sort with a Fountain or other Monument and a church. By now we think we have it figured out!

 

And there it is! And not crowded at all [emoji3] it's about 8 am.

 

 

 

 

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[cruizeblues]

Front row seats with only a few people around! We hung out for a bit, took a few selfies and did the obligatory coin toss. Guess we will be coming back to Rome someday [emoji846]

 

 

 

 

 

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[cruizeblues]

Now comes one of my favorite memories of Rome, perhaps the entire trip! The sun was shining, it was a beautiful morning so we decided to sit for a while and enjoy it. DH went to a nearby cafe and got us espresso and warm, fresh berry croissants! Sitting in front of this beautiful fountain with your beloved with the sun shining, a cup of hot espresso and croissant! OMG! When I say it doesn't get any better than that, I'm serious!

 

 

 

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[cruizeblues]

Hoopster's review had some great pictures from our next destination, and recommended taking the elevator to the roof for a great view of Rome. This was the last place on my must-do list so off we went.

 

The Victor Emmanuel Monument, or Alter of the Fatherland

 

Just as we arrived, DH informed me that his camera battery died [emoji47] so pictures are from my IPhone. A quick check on google tells me museum doesn't open until 9:30, we are a bit early so we walk around a bit. This is a beautiful area, you can see the ruins of the Forum and the Colosseum.

 

 

 

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[cruizeblues]

Ok, so like everything else in Rome, pictures just don't convey the magnitude of this building! It is HUGE! The bronze statues of horses have to be at least two stories high!

 

 

To get to the rooftop, you have to go up to the second level and through the museum entrance. From there, signs direct you up a flight of stairs and then out behind the building to a glass elevator. Then we had a delightful surprise, on Sunday the ride up is free! Normally 8 euro each (if I remember correctly). Free is good! There is free admission into the Colosseum on Sunday also.

 

Hoopster was correct, the view from the roof is pretty great!

 

 

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[cruizeblues]

 

Vatican

 

 

 

 

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[cruizeblues]

As we are taking in the magnificent view, another magical moment occurred! At 10 am all the church bells in the neighborhood started to chime! There are literally dozens of churches within earshot and it is a pretty special moment! Took video with my phone, didn't turn out great, but I'll try to figure out how to post it.

 

 

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